Life-preserving and swimming belt



April 3, 1929. c. H. A.' PETERSEN 1,709,813

LIFE PRESERVING AND SWIMMING BELT Fiied May 10, 1928 (Zn step H A l/redPefersezz, INVENTOR BY 5Q, a M ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 23, 1929 i 1ymrn-ransnnvmennn swrmivr rne nnm 'I Application fried May 10,

This iryention relates new and useful improvements in life preserv ngand swimmingbelts and has for ltSObJQCt to produce a device tha may, ifdesired, conveniently be worn, or :arried about as part of aper sonswcaring apparel, incidentally ready to be put into use at any moment;the said devieo may also be worn in a somewhat 1nflated slate to theeffect, that should an ac-' cident befall a person and the latter as aresult be thrown into deep water, hewill nevertheless right then be ableto keep afloat and have ample opportunity to fill the said device withair, so that it becomes entirely inflated and acquires its full liftingcapacity. A further object of my invention 18 to pro-' vide a swimmingbelt as a facilitating means in regard to the swimming sport, makmg itpossible by decreasing the lifting capac ty of the belt to graduallyincrease the dexterlty of the prospective swimmer and stlmulate his selfconfidence. D

As this life preserving belt, or the life buoy proper, may beconstructed 1n combination with almost any piece of clothing, such as anarmless sweater, or, as shown n the drawing, with the shirt of a bathingsuit, it should be possible to wear the sa1d life belt without anyuncomfortable feeling under all circumstances, whenever a dangeroussituation may be expected to arise.

The construction of this life preserv ng belt is very simple, and asonly inexpens ve materials are required, the manufacturing cost shouldaccordingly be very small. 7

With the above and other objects in view, this invention consists of thenovel features of construction, combination and arrangements of parts,hereinafter fully described,

claimed and illustrated in the accompanying 1 drawings forming parts ofthis specification,

and in which similar characters of reference 7 indicate correspondingparts in all views, and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my device attached to somewearing-apparel; Fig. 2 is a vertical, transverse sectional view takenon line a-a of Fig. 1, while Flg. 3 illustrates my device proper,separate from any gar ment.

Referring more particularly to the drawings 10 illustrates theembodiment of my device as it is applied to the trunk of abathing suit;the manner of attachment being 10 and rubber tubes.

(ii-KRISTEN HANSEN ALF-RED PETERSEN, OF EUGEITEfOREG'ON, JASSIG-NQRi TO.NEW

LIFE PRESERVER COIIEPANY, A CORPORATION GF'OBEG ON;

1928-. ser arnm 276,551.

general the same in any instance; 11 indicates a rubber member, formedinfone piece, and being-capable of nflat on, thatis, which may be'expanded n away common to the usual rubber, devices, such astoy-balloons,

The rubber member 11 cmpi-ises' a front and back-portion, indicated by12' and 13,

respectively, the said portions being integrally connected by theshoulder portions 14 and 15, of which the latter has integrally formedupon it a small rubber tube 16 terminating in a mouthpiece 17 of. theusual kind, that is with a valve-member to admit air into the saidrubber member 11, preventing at the time any backflow of air ordeflation of the device. When such defiation, however, is desired, it isonly necessary to exert a slight pressure upon the top of the valve inthe said mouthpiece 'by means of a key .18, and the air will readilyescape, and the rubber member become deflated.

Applied to a garment or any wearing-apparel thesaid rubber member may bewoven or sewn into the former, as it on its inner side is provided witha reenforcing piece or pieces of material 19, which serves to cover theinner side of the said rubber member, making of thegarment a completeensemble with nothing of the inflated rubber member exposed to sight.

In order to assure a close and still comfortable fitting of agarmentformed with the said device to the body of a person, the device isprovided with elastic side ribbons 20 disposed in such a manner as tohold the device snugly in place.

As an additional means of securing the said rubber member. to a garment,the former is made with a plurality of eyelets 21 adapted to beespecially connected to the said garments.

It is obvious that changes may be made in the form,,construction andarrangement of the several parts, as shown, within the" scope of theappended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention, andI I do not therefore limit myself tothe construction and arrangementshown and described herein. I

' What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States,

1. A swimming belt of the class described, comprising a garment providedwith pocket sections formed by an inner reenforcing member a rubbermember susceptible of inflation and divided in sections correspond ingto and positioned within the. aforesaid pocket sections, elastic sideribbonsvengaging the lower portions of the said rubber member to securethe garment in position, a plurality of lugs formed upon the said rubbermember for the purpose of facilitating a rigid attachment of the latterto the garment, substantially as and for the purpose set forth. I

'2. A life preserver and swimming belt of the class described,comprising a garment provided with interengaging pocket sections formedby aninner reenforcing member; a

divided into sections corresponding to and positioned within theaforesaid pocket sec tions, elastic side ribbons engaging the lowerportions of the saidrubber member to se cure the garment in properposition, means for rigidly connecting the rubber member and garmenttogether, further means for inflating the saidrubber member, andadditional means for deflating the same, substantially as and for thepurposeset forth.

Signed at Eugene in the county of Lane and State of Oregon this 28th dayof March A. D. 1928.

CHRISTEN HANSEN ALFRED PETERSEN. a

